MEN'S VOLLEYBALL HOME FOR TWO CONFERENCE TILTSAiming to finish 2010 on a high note, Coach Kevin Ring's Men's Volleyball team, ranked 13th nationally, plays seven of its final nine regular season contests in RIMAC Arena, starting Friday night against No. 1 Stanford (13-4) and Saturday vs. Pacific (8-14)...Earlier this month on the road, UCSD fell at Stanford in four games and defeated Pacific in four.

SOFTBALL RUNS WIN STREAK TO NINE; MIZUNO TOURNEY NEXTNow winners of nine straight, Coach Patti Gerckens' Softball team (19-9) will travel to Turlock for the three-day Mizuno Tournament of Champions, an event which could have serious post-season implications...The Tritons will play a trio of games Friday, opening with Hawaii Pacific (8:45 AM) then taking on Western Oregon (11:00 AM) and St. Martin's (3:45 PM)...Saturday UCSD will square off against Montana State-Billings (1:30 PM) and Central Washington (3:45 PM)...Sunday's opponents will be determined by the first two days' results.

Wins Nos. 8-9 of the current streak came Sunday as UCSD swept a twinbill from NAIA rival Cal State San Marcos...The Tritons pulled out the opener, 2-1, plating an unearned run in the bottom of the seventh without the benefit of a hit...Tess Granath and Christine Zankich teamed up to handle the pitching duties with Zankich snagging her seventh win of the year...Freshman Nicole Spangler drove in both runs, the game-winner on a bases loaded grounder that was booted by CSUSM shortstop Shanti Poston...Junior Kris Lesovsky scored both UCSD runs...After combining for just three runs in game one, the two teams erupted for a combined eight in the first inning of game two...The Tritons were up, 5-3, after that frame and shut down the Cougars the rest of the way for an 8-3 triumph....San Marcos got three of its four hits in that first inning as pitchers Brittany Sheats and Camille Gaito dominated the remainder of the game with the sophomore Sheats picking up the first win of her collegiate career...Lesovsky had two of UCSD's nine hits (including a triple) and drove home two...Senior shortstop Mandi Eliades also had a pair of hits.

SECOND-RANKED BASEBALL LOOKS TO EXTEND WIN STREAKRanked No. 2 nationally with a 23-3 record and 14 consecutive wins, Coach Dan O'Brien's Baseball team swings back into action today after more than a week off for finals...The Tritons will host North County neighbor Cal State San Marcos, Monday, for a single game which was just added to the schedule last week...UCSD will then vault back into CCAA play, tackling sixth place Cal Poly Pomona (15-10/9-7) in a four-game series, starting with single games at Cal Poly, Thursday and Friday, then returning to La Jolla for a Saturday doubleheader...The Tritons, 14-2 in conference play, own a 2.5 game lead over second place Cal State San Bernardino atop the CCAA ladder.

CREW CLASSIC, FLA. D-II CHALLENGE HEADLINE CREW WEEKEND A big weekend looms for both Triton Rowing programs...Saturday and Sunday will be the annual San Diego Crew Classic on Mission Bay featuring many of the premier programs from across the country...By virtue of winning last year's Cal Cup race (for the second time in three years), Coach Zach Johnson's men's varsity eight will be in the elite 12-team Copley Cup, matched up against the likes of Cal, Stanford, Michigan and a host of other top Division I boats...The Triton men will also have entries in the JV eight and novice eight races...On the women's side, UCSD will send out its second varsity eight in the 22-team Open Eight competition and also field novice and second novice eight entries...The men and women will also have alumni boats competing.

Meanwhile, women's head coach Pattie Pinkerton will be taking her varsity eight to the Deep South for the Florida Division II Challenge, a six-school regatta featuring Nova Southeastern, Rollins, Barry and other D-II heavyweights...The event will feature a series of dual races on Friday followed by three-team match-ups on Saturday...The Tritons will also scrimmage vs. Central Florida on Wednesday.

WOMEN'S WATER POLO TAKES ON NO. 5 HAWAII THURSDAYBoasting five wins in its last six outings, Coach Brad Kreutzkamp's Women's Water Polo team gets a stern test Thursday when it hosts No. 5 Hawaii at Canyonview Pool...The Tritons will then travel to Bakersfield for the Roadrunner Invitational, Saturday and Sunday.

The WWPA Championship Tournament, whose winner advances to the NCAA Championships, is also scheduled for Bakersfield and looms five weeks away...This weekend's Bakersfield tourney will have a significant effect on the seedings for the later event...The Tritons will open Saturday against the 18th-ranked host Roadrunners at 9:00 AM and then meet No. 15 UC Davis at 5:15 PM that afternoon...Sunday it will be UCSD and Sonoma State at 8:00 AM and Kreutzkamp's club will battle Cal State San Bernardino at 12:40 PM...Coming into this week's play, UCSD's top three goal scorers are sophomore Kirsten Bates (34) and seniors Stephanie Heinrich (30) and Audra Bloom (28)...Junior Hanalei Crowell has 19 goals, a team-leading 25 assists and 23 steals...Bloom leads UCSD with 37 steals...Senior goalie Markayla Quane has 163 saves.

TRACK & FIELD SENDS LARGE CONTINGENT TO CAL/NEVADA MEETCoaches Tony Salerno and Darcy Ahner will split their Track & Field teams this weekend with approximately 40 qualifying competitors heading to Los Angeles for the annual Cal/Nevada Collegiate Championships at UCLA and the remainder of the squad going crosstown for the Point Loma Spring Break Open...The Triton women placed fifth at last year's Cal/Nevada gathering, which features most of the top Division I schools in the two states...Best bets for high finishes on the women's side are seniors Christine Merrill and Linda Rainwater, seeded No. 2 in the 400 hurdles and high jump respectively, and junior sprinter Kelly Fogarty...UCSD sports a pair of No. 1 seeds in the men's division---junior high jumper Casey Ryan and sophomore javelin ace Nick Howe... Salerno is looking for a top 10 finish out of his men.

Several team members competed at another Point Loma all-comers event last Saturday...The top performance at that meet was turned in by Merrill...The reigning NCAA D-II 400 hurdles champion entered and won the open 400, posting a time of 55.31 which was just short of the NCAA automatic qualifying time...Rainwater, also a defending national champ, won the 100 hurdles with a provisional NCAA qualifying mark of 14.55...Caitlin Meagher (1:04.23) and Leon Baham (54.13) were both runner-ups in their respective 400 hurdles races and Andrew Karnaze (44-11.75) was second in the triple jump.

Ryan & Fogarty were chosen as last week's Male and Female CCAA Track & Field Athletes of the Week.

GOLFERS HOST SO. CAL INTERCOLLEGIATE AT MISSION VIEJOThe UCSD Golf team will host the 60th annual Southern California Invitational, today and tomorrow at Mission Viejo Country Club...The 11-team, 54-hole event will begin with the first two rounds Monday and the final 18 slated Tuesday...Coach Mike Wydra will enter a five-player team and have his remaining three golfers compete as individuals...Senior Raj Samra, juniors Keith Okasaki and Richard Morris, sophomore Mike Neustadt and freshman Anubhay Rastogi have been the top five at recent events.

THREE FENCERS HEAD TO NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPSCoach Heidi Runyan will be taking three athletes to the 2010 NCAA Fencing Championships, hosted by Harvard, Thursday through Saturday in Cambridge, MA...Qualifying for the trip east will be NCAA West Regional foil champions Pilar Alicea and Michael Fong as well as freshman epee specialist Victoria Mo...Alicea, a senior, and Fong, a sophomore, were both participants in last year's NCAA Championships...Alicea placed 12th and Fong 24th at the '09 nationals while UCSD wound up 17th in the team standings.

KEY TRIP TO ISLANDS LOOMS FOR TENNIS TEAMSIn a trek that will play a big part in determining seedings for the upcoming NCAA Division II West Regionals, the Men's and Women's Tennis teams will travel to Hawaii this week for a trio of major dual matches...The Tritons will challenge BYU-Hawaii (Wed.), Hawaii Pacific (Thu.) and Hawaii-Hilo (Fri.)...Before departing, Coach Eric Steidlmayer's men's squad will host Ivy League invader Dartmouth, today at the La Jolla Beach and Tennis Club.

Both the men and women recorded relatively easy home victories over Hawaii-Hilo on March 13...The men were defeated, 5-4, in a hard-fought match against BYU-Hawaii in Phoenix back in early February.

The 17th annual Triton Athletic Associates Golf Tournament, benefiting UC San Diego Athletics, will be held Monday, May 24 at Fairbanks Ranch Country Club in Rancho Santa Fe...Information on playing in or sponsoring the tournament is available by calling the UCSD Athletic Dept. at (858) 534-8460.

For more information on Triton sports, check our website at http://ucsdtritons.com.